Hi all,
Here is an editorial from the Boston Globe by Jeff Jacoby. Jacoby is a
conservative but if even a little of what he says here is true, then Obama
needs to come out against this unacceptable behavior just as he needs to do
more here in America about police who miss-treat blacks. While I strongly
agree with Obama that normalization of relations with Cuba is the right
thing to do and long overdue, Id say that Cuba has more than its share of
warts. I will admit that Roger and Miriam are more knowledgable on Cuba than
am I. Would you folks say that Jacoby is lying here regarding Cubas
miss-treatment of dissidents? Bob Hachey
JEFF JACOBY
Cubans pay the price for Obama's 'engagement' with the Castros .
globe staff illustration
On July 1, President Obama announced the formal resumption of diplomatic
relations with Cuba, asserting confidently that "American engagement . . .
is the best way to advance our interests and support for democracy and human
rights. On July 5, the Communist regime in Havana delivered its customary
response. It arrested more than 80 democratic dissidents , including at
least 60 members of Ladies in White, a peaceful group of brave women who
march weekly in support of husbands, fathers, and other relatives imprisoned
in the Castros' jails. Many of those detained were hurt, some severely. One
prominent human rights activist, Antonio Rodiles, was sent to the hospital
with a shattered nose; he had reportedly been handcuffed by security forces,
then beaten for shouting " Long live freedom" and "Long live human rights .
There had been even more arrests and beatings in the days leading up to
Obama's Rose Garden statement. Some 225 Cuban dissidents across the island
were arrested the previous Sunday , with Ladies in White again prominent
among those targeted. In fact, there have been police actions against Cuban
democrats for 12 Sundays in a row - the government makes a point of going
after dissidents as they walk to Mass or emerge from church holding photos
of imprisoned loved ones . Like most US advocates of normalizing relations
with the only all-out dictatorship in the Western Hemisphere, Obama claims
that warming up to the Castro regime is the most effective way to promote
freedom and liberal reform in Cuba. When he announced last December that
ties between Havana and Washington were going to be restored, the president
declared that "we can do more to support the Cuban people and promote our
values through engagement. Now, nearly seven months later, he reiterates
"America's enduring support for universal values, like freedom of speech and
assembly," and he insists that his administration "will not hesitate to
speak out when we see actions that contradict those values. No? Over the
past seven months, life for Cuba's people has grown even more unfree. Yet
far from forthrightly condemning the repression, Obama serenely counsels
patience: "Nobody expects Cuba to be transformed overnight," he says.
Editorial: Rewards of diplomacy include a thaw in US-Cuba relations There
have been more than 3,000 political detentions on the island since last
December, according to The Washington Post . The paper quotes Mario Felix
Lleonart, a Cuban Baptist pastor who laments that he, like many, "had hoped,
following the announcement about normalizing relations between the US and
Cuba, that there would be a stop to - or at least a lessening of - the
beatings" of dissidents. "We now know that what is happening is precisely
the opposite . The policy that Obama now embraces is also "precisely the
opposite" of the one he feigned to uphold as a candidate for president. Once
upon a time, Obama maintained that there would be no American embassy in
Havana until all of Cuba's political prisoners were free . Now he trumpets
John Kerry's forthcoming trip to Havana "to proudly raise the American flag
over our embassy once more," even as Cuba continues to lock up men and women
for daring to seek the democratic liberties Americans take for granted. The
Obama administration is bestowing tremendous gifts on Cuba's rulers:
diplomatic legitimation, a public-relations triumph, an influx of hard
currency, and expanded influence in Washington. All this the Castros are
getting in exchange for nothing: no elections, no free press, no end to
beating peaceful protesters, no justice for the many victims of Cuban
totalitarianism. " Castroism has won ," mourned the Cuban dissident Yoani
Sánchez last winter, when Obama announced an end to America's principled
policy on Cuba. If it wasn't obvious then, it is now. Jeff Jacoby can be
reached at jacoby@xxxxxxxxx . Follow him on Twitter @jeff_jacoby .
